


intertwined hands

by fireblazie



Category: Buzz (Korea Band), Super Junior, 아는 형님 | Knowing Bros | Ask Us Anything
Genre: 5 Things, 5 Times, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 02:11:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17215070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireblazie/pseuds/fireblazie
Summary: “Hyung,” Kyunghoon begins, fiddling with the edges of his sweater, tips of his ears turning faintly pink. “I need—I need a favor.”Or: 5 times Heechul and Kyunghoon held hands outside of filming (+ bonus fake dating)





	intertwined hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [btstarjk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/btstarjk/gifts).



**one**

 

“Hyung,” Kyunghoon begins, fiddling with the edges of his sweater, tips of his ears turning faintly pink. “I need—I need a favor.”

Heechul watches him squirm with anxiety and just— _wants_. Not for the first time, and probably not for the last, damn it all. Swallowing against the urge to do something stupid like hold him, he settles for cramming his hands in his pockets, tilting his head, and saying, “Of course, Kyunghoon-ah. Whatever you need.”

 

*

 

“Surprise,” Heechul says, smile beginning to strain at the corners as the rest of the cast eyes him with surprised and slightly doubtful glances. Beside him, Kyunghoon is an actual ball of nerves. Heechul puts on his best Super Junior, Star of the Universe face. “We are. Uh. Dating. Now.” He gingerly places a hand on top of Kyunghoon’s. It’s different outside of filming, knowing that there are no cameras capturing any of it, knowing that there aren’t hundreds (well, thousands, Heechul amends, they are _very_ popular, after all) of delusional fans waiting to screen cap every frame and post them on SNS.

Kyunghoon’s hand twitches beneath his, and Heechul briefly spares it an admonishing frown before turning his attention back to the rest of the room.

“Is anybody really surprised?” Sangmin-hyung says, tapping a finger to his chin. Heechul forgets, sometimes, that he sees a lot more from the back of the classroom than anybody else, music producer hawk-eyes and all.

Youngchul-hyung says, warmly, “I’m happy for you.” He means it too, is the thing, and a tiny part of Heechul feels a little bad that he’s deceiving them all like this.

“Thanks,” Heechul says, Kyunghoon echoing the word quietly beside him. It’s only then that Heechul realizes he’s still holding Kyunghoon’s hand, and he drops it quickly, hoping the action wasn’t too awkward.

Soogeun-hyung cracks a smile. “No need to stop on our account,” he drawls, as Hodong-hyung begins shrieking about going out to celebrate blossoming love in the springtime of their youth, his treat! (“It’s winter,” Janghoon-hyung points out, but is largely ignored.) “You kids can hold hands all you want.”

So Heechul grabs Kyunghoon’s hand again, clinging to it like a lifeline. Better, he thinks, numbly. Like this, it’s almost like it’s just another harebrained skit they’re doing for the show, and Kyunghoon is the one solid point he can rely on.

“Ah, young love,” Hodong-hyung opines, clasping his hands theatrically, and it takes everything in Heechul not to bolt and run.

 

**two**

 

“For the record, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Jungsoo says, flipping over a piece of pork belly on the grill.

“Yeah, well, what do you know,” Heechul says as he downs a shot of soju. It’s a little uncalled for, he’ll freely admit, but he’s said worse. Much worse.

Jungsoo shrugs. “You always get too attached.”

“Do not,” Heechul says, affronted at the insinuation that he may actually have feelings.

“When it counts, you do,” Jungsoo says enigmatically. “I think you already have.”

Heechul rolls his eyes. “Stop pretending you’re so much smarter than me when you’re only nine days older,” he snaps.

“You’re the one who posted a two-minute clip of you gushing over one of his songs,” Jungsoo says, raising an eyebrow.

Heechul bristles. “That’s because ‘Tree’ is a grossly underappreciated song and the public wouldn’t know good music if it bit them in the—” He cuts himself off at the sound of Jungsoo failing to stifle his laughter. He clears his throat, starts all over again. “I’ll be, you know. _Careful._ Can’t tarnish the group’s image, after all, right, leader-ssi?”

Jungsoo’s expression softens. “Heechul-ah,” he says.

“It’s the life we chose, isn’t it,” Heechul says, tiredly. “Sold our souls for fifteen minutes of fame and fortune.”

“Do you regret it?” Jungsoo asks quietly.

Heechul laughs. “No,” he says. _I wouldn’t have met him otherwise_ , he thinks.

“Behave,” Jungsoo says suddenly, kicking him underneath the table. “He’s here.”

Heechul straightens up in his seat as Kyunghoon walks in the door to the restaurant and makes his way over to their table. He looks good, he notices distantly, dark skinny jeans doing wonders for his legs. Kyunghoon inclines his head politely in Jungsoo’s direction with a quiet “Hello, Leeteuk-hyung,” who simply motions for him to sit.

So Kyunghoon does, slipping into the chair next to Heechul’s, resting a hand casually on the table. Heechul thinks, if they were a real couple, they would have greeted each other with a kiss, probably. Still, it’s just Jungsoo, and he already _knows,_ and he opens his mouth to tell Kyunghoon they don’t have to keep up the charade for him when Kyunghoon simply just reaches over and twines their fingers together.

Heechul blinks. It’s not exactly the first time Kyunghoon’s initiated hand-holding; he’s done it a few times on the show, but it’s usually almost always Heechul who starts it, and he’s all too aware that it’s the first time he’s done it _outside_ of the show, and. Well. He’s not quite sure how he feels about that. His stomach goes all—bubbly. It’s not entirely unpleasant.

Kyunghoon’s hand is warm and a little sweaty, fingers twitching nervously against his knuckles. Instinctively, Heechul squeezes his hand. Immediately, Kyunghoon relaxes, the tense line of his shoulders easing down.

“Oh,” he murmurs, and ignores Jungsoo’s knowing smirk.

 

**three**

 

Sitting in the middle of Buzz’s practice room, Heechul realizes that he’s way in over his head.

Ignoring the voice in his head that sounds entirely too much like Jungsoo, he focuses instead on Kyunghoon dozing fitfully beside him, fatigue heavy in the set of his bones and the furrow of his brow. Heechul watches as he scrunches his nose, reaches up to scratch at his face, and doesn’t quite stop. He frowns when he sees pink lines marring the pale skin of Kyunghoon’s cheek, and reaches down to grab his hand. Kyunghoon frowns, but the wrinkles in his forehead smooth out, and he sighs. And Heechul, well. Doesn’t quite let go.

Across the room, Yejun-hyung arches an eyebrow. The single motion communicates a dozen different meanings.

Two feet away from him, Junki-hyung flashes him a thumbs up.

And Heechul fucking _blushes._

“Oh—hyung,” Kyunghoon says, blinking sleepily at him, voice raspy from singing and exhaustion, and goddamn if that doesn’t make Heechul want to do things to him. “You’re still here? You can go.”

“No, it’s alright,” Heechul says, sweeping his thumb across the fragile bones of Kyunghoon’s wrist. “I’ll stay.”

 

**four**

 

Six months into—whatever this is, Kyunghoon breaks first.

“Hyung,” he says, trying and failing to meet his eyes. They’re at Heechul’s apartment, sitting on the floor, the computer game they’d been playing long forgotten. Outside, the first snow of the year falls. “Hyung, I. I don’t think we’re fake dating anymore.”

“No,” Heechul says, heart jumping erratically in his chest. “I don’t think so either.”

A pause, in which Heechul imagines all the worst-case scenarios, a defense mechanism adopted from over a decade in the spotlight: Kyunghoon runs, and Heechul doesn’t go after him. Heechul runs, and Kyunghoon doesn’t go after him. The show ends, and they never speak to each other again. A lifetime of what-ifs.

Instead:

“Is that okay?” Kyunghoon glances up to meet his eyes, hesitant and unsure. He’s hidden his hands beneath the overly large sleeves of his sweater, fingers picking at the threads inside.

Heechul—breathes. Takes a moment to stop and stare at the fall of Kyunghoon’s bangs across his forehead, the light pink dusting his cheeks and his ears. There’s a strange ache in the pit of his stomach, and he, inexplicably, and not for the first time when it comes to Kyunghoon, _wants._

(Heechul's always been a greedy little bastard.)

Throughout it all, Kyunghoon watches him. Patient. A burst of nervous laughter escapes Heechul’s lips as he finally gives in to his impulses, crosses that bridge, pulls Kyunghoon’s sleeves up and holds both of his hands in his. Kyunghoon’s eyes dart nervously from their hands to Heechul’s face.

“Better than okay,” Heechul assures him, and is rewarded with the sight of twin dimples blooming on Kyunghoon’s cheeks.

(And if he uses his grip on Kyunghoon’s hands to tug him off balance so that he falls on top of Heechul for what ends up being a lovely make-out session, well, who can blame him?)

 

**five**

 

Someday:

Kyunghoon rolls over in bed, eyes still tightly shut, one hand grasping blindly for his favorite source of warmth. He finds only cold air, and barely warm, rumpled bedsheets. With a muffled groan, he sits up in bed and attempts to scrub the sleep out of his eyes. He pulls the comforter off the bed and wraps it around himself, wandering through their apartment in a blanket burrito.

“What are you doing?” When Kyunghoon looks up, Heechul is leaning against the wall with an amused grin on his lips.

“Hey,” Kyunghoon pouts, making grabby-hand motions in his direction. “You weren’t there when I woke up.”

“Even Universe Big Stars have to pee, you know,” Heechul says, but steps closer and grabs both of Kyunghoon’s hands in his. Kyunghoon makes a pleased noise in the back of his throat and links their fingers together. The ring on Heechul’s finger is cold against Kyunghoon’s palm.

“Is your leg bothering you again?” he asks. He can hear the storm brewing outside, the steady cascade of raindrops against their windows.

“A little,” Heechul admits, but Kyunghoon knows better.

Kyunghoon frowns at him. “Come to bed,” he says.

Heechul leans in and pecks him briefly on the lips. “Alright.”

Kyunghoon leads him back to their bedroom, climbing back on his side of the bed. Heechul follows suit, and Kyunghoon drapes the heavy blanket over them both as he scoots further into Heechul’s warmth. Heechul, in turn, lets out a low, throaty chuckle, before throwing an arm loosely over Kyunghoon’s waist. His fingers creep up beneath his shirt, trimmed nails grazing bare skin.

“Better?” he murmurs.

Kyunghoon moves ever closer, tucking his face into the crook of Heechul’s neck. Pinches him when, predictably, he tries to warm his frigid toes on Kyunghoon’s calves. Kisses him once, then twice, and threads his fingers in his tangled hair, the silver of his matching ring bright against Heechul’s dark curls.

“Better,” he agrees, and lets the rhythmic rise and fall of Heechul’s breaths lull him to sleep.

 

**end**

**Author's Note:**

> notes: thank you for reading!! & hopefully you liked it, even a little. what better reason for unrepentant fluff than the holidays, right
> 
> please don't ask me why they had to fake date in the first place because hell if i know
> 
> also much thanks to buzz for releasing ‘15’ when they did as this was nearly titled after tvxq song lyrics which probs wouldn’t have been as meaningful


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